Tan Kok Kuan
Dr. Tan Kok Kuan is a medical doctor trained in Singapore. He practises as a physician out of his clinic at Novena Medical Center and he is also the Chief Executive and Chief Medical Officer of a medical group called Drs. Tan & Partners (DTAP Clinic) that has clinics in Singapore and Malaysia and is expanding into the region. Tan and his partners started a single tiny clinic in Robertson Walk in 2005. At the time, all the beautiful condominiums one now sees in the area had not yet been built. The area from Robertson Walk to the river was all boarded up for construction. As the community in the area grew, their patient pool and business grew as well. They focused on providing their patients with the highest standards of primary health care. Often, this saved them unnecessary, costly and inconvenient visits to medical specialists. They saw themselves as bridging the divide between basic general practice and specialists. They coined the term General Practice Plus to describe their unique service. In 2008, they were appointed as an anonymous HIV testing clinic by the Ministry of Health. With this opportunity, they emphasised creating a safe, empathetic and non-judgemental environment for people from all walks of life and all sexual orientations to feel free and unharrassed when seeking professional medical advice with regard to their sexual health and fear of HIV and sexually transmitted infections. In this vein, they also promoted safer and healthier sexual practices. Riding on these principles of practice, they expanded their network of clinics in Singapore and also into Malaysia. Tan envisions bringing their brand of quality healthcare in a safe and non-judgemental environment into the region. As much as it pains Tan to say so, he feels that there are a few doctors who are bad apples that spoil the name for the whole barrel. He has heard from his patients of doctors forcibly trying to impose their own values on them. Doctors who reprimand them for their sexual activities, doctors who judge them for their infidelity, doctors who preach their religion when they learn of the patients’ less than conventional sexual orientation. Also doctors who prey on their patients’ fears to line their own pockets by overselling tests and treatments. Doctors who offer treatments that have absolutely no value aside from improving the revenue of the clinic. And of course there were unscrupulous websites that sold voodoo cures and gave nonsensical medical information that only served to stoke irrational fear and anxiety. Tan feels that his patients deserve and have the right to a better standard of not only healthcare but person care. They plan to deliver this to all people not only by expanding our network of like-minded caring doctors, but also by disseminating quality objective medical information via our website to empower patients to tell the difference between good proper medical advice and less than ideal advice. Tan has a wonderful team of hardworking medical and non-medical staff. They all share the same vision of real patient care. Not just caring as a job but caring from the heart. They make his life so much easier. That said, like everyone else, there are many a times when he feels completely overwhelmed. During those times, he just has to try to give every ball a gentle tap so that they all stay in the air until he gets back into the juggling rhythm. They plan to bring their model of healthcare into the region. They envision a DTAP clinic in all major urban centres in Asia with a similar look and feel and also offering a similar level of care and expertise modelled after their standards in Singapore. They will also offer uniform procedures, processes, materials and competencies in all our clinics so that their patients will have the peace of mind that they will be receiving the same standard of care regardless of their geographical location. They term this the Mcdonaldisation of healthcare. Leveraging on technology, they will also offer patients a seamless continuity in their medical management as they travel across the region. They can achieve this by allowing for the sharing of medical notes using a cloud based patient record system and simultaneously maintaining patient confidentiality and allowing for efficient communication between their doctors caring for the same patient with internet telephony systems. Website: www.dtapclinic.com Corporate Office: 101 Cecil Street, #17-12 Tong Eng Building, Singapore 069533 Telephone: +65 69261678 Singapore & Malaysia Clinics: @Robertson +65 62387810 @Bencoolen +65 68844119 @Novena +65 63972095 @Scotts +65 66942348 @Somerset +65 62620762 @KL Eco City +60 322022052 =See also= *Drs. Tan & Partners *PrEP in Singapore =References= *99SME Admin, "99%SME PRESENTS: THE CHANGING FACES OF SMES", 99SME, 18 October 2018https://www.99sme.sg/featured-stories/drtanandpartners/. *Dr. Martha Tara Lee, "Passionate Person – Medical Doctor, Dr. Tan Kok Kuan", Eros Coaching Pte Ltd, 8 September 2018https://www.eroscoaching.com/2018/09/passionate-person-medical-doctor-dr-tan-kok-kuan/. =Acknowledgements= This article was written by Roy Tan. Category:General articles